Versa Messaging Service (VMS) Release Notes for Release 5.1

Upgrade Release 5.1.1 to Release 5.1.2

For the features in VMS Release 5.1.2 to work with VOS Release 22.1.4 (Service Release dated 2025-02-08) and later, you must install a new VMS cluster (node). Until you upgrade all VOS nodes to Release 22.1.4 (Service Release dated 2025-02-08), your VMS node with an earlier VMS release (unnumbered) and VMS node with Release 5.1.2 must be active.

To upgrade a VMS node running Release 5.1.1 to Release 5.1.2:

1. Copy the appropriate binary package file to the /home/versa/packages/ directory on the VMS node. Ensure that the file has +x (execute) permission.
2. Issue the vsh system-upgrade package-name CLI command (package name for Release 5.1.2: versa-msgservice-20250205-092228-c0bf281-5.1.2.bin). The installation begins and the system reboots in the middle of the upgrade.
3. To monitor upgrade logs, check the /var/log/versa/upgrade.log file. Before reboot, the following message displays: "Bin upgrade is completed, Container upgrade will begin post system restart”. VMS continues with the upgrade after reboot. Until the upgrade completes, the following message displays: "Upgrade is not completed and is in progress!". VMS is up and services requests during this period.
4. To verify that Versa services have started, issue the vsh status CLI command. Until upgrade completes, the following message displays: "Upgrade is not completed and is in progress!".

After you upgrade from the shell, perform the following steps from Versa Director to update the path of the backup database directory:

1. In Director view, select the Administration tab in the top menu bar.
2. Select Connectors > VMS in the left menu bar. 
   
   
3. Select the VMS connector from the main pane with details already updated. The step 1, VMS Connection screen displays.
   
   
4. Click Next until you reach the Review screen, and then check that the values are correct.
   
   
5.  Click Submit. For more information, see Configure a VMS Connector. This ensures that the path to the latest backup database directory is updated. 

Upgrade Releases Prior to Release 5.1.1 (Unnumbered) to Release 5.1.2

To upgrade a VMS node with a prior to Release 5.1.1 (unnumbered) release to 5.1.2:

1. Install a VMS Release 5.1.1 control plane node. For more information, see Install VMS.
2. Log in to the Versa Director UI.
3. Add the control plane node that you installed in Step 1 as the first node of the VMS cluster to the Versa Director Connector. For more information, see Configure VMS from Versa Director.  
4. Add the tenant and the required service to the VMS cluster, which enables the service on the VMS cluster. VMS servers that run releases prior to Release 5.1.1 (unnumbered), process requests from VOS nodes running VOS Releases 22.1.3 and earlier, and VMS servers that run Release 5.1.1, process requests from VOS nodes running VOS Releases 22.1.4.

Configure Services in Release 5.1.1

To configure third-party authentication (in earlier VMS releases, this is called passive authentication):

1.  Upgrade the WMI agent to Release 11.4.8.
2. ⁠From the Versa Director UI, enable and configure third-party authentication on your parent tenant. For more information, see Configure VMS from Versa Director. 
3. Make the following changes on your WMI agent:
   1. Configure the parent tenant on your WMI agent. The parent tenant can be the same as the child tenant in WMI. For more information, see Install and Configure the WMI Agent.
   2. Change the port number from 3092 to the standard HTTPS port (443) to connect to a VMS node running VMS Release 5.1.1.
   3. If firewall block rules are used, update these rules to connect to the VMS node running VMS Release 5.1.1.
   4. Add the new VMS server details and upload the certificate to the WMI agent.
   5. Enable the parent tenant on your WMI agent. 
   6. If the WMI agent server interacts with VMS Release 5.1.1 as well as previous releases, you must upload the certificates for both releases.

Similarly, you can enable and configure SASE on SIM and XIP EIP services from the Tenants and Services screen in the Versa Director UI. For more information, see Configure VMS from Versa Director.

Release 5.1.2 

Released February 12, 2025

New Features

There are no new features in this release.

Enhancements

• If system passwords exist in the system, a prompt displays to modify default system passwords when you issue the vsh status and vsh configure commands. System passwords must meet the following requirements: 
  • Minimum 16 characters
  • Minimum 1 digit
  • Minimum 1 lower case and 1 upper case character
  • Minimum 1 special character
  • Password cannot contain any dictionary words
  • Password must have at least 8 characters that are different from the previous password
  • Password cannot contain the username or full name of user
  • You cannot use any of the last 10 passwords
• SASE on SIM:
  • Add support for interim message configurations and processing (Bug 113939, 113771)
  • Add support for CDN bypass (Bug 115690)
  • Add support for default routing instance (Bug 117122)
• Add support for Analytics logging for third-party authentication (Bug 115885)
• XIP EIP: Add support for private and public IP addresses while processing XIP messages (Bug 85389)

Fixed Bugs

• Infrastructure:
  • Sequencing issues at VOS reconnect (Bug 115355)
  • Micro-service crashes when using invalid certificates (Bug 117979)
  • Add aggressive log-rotate (Bug 118750)
  • Per namespace cache and database backups (Bug 116023)
  • Add support for health monitoring (Bug 116727)
• SASE on SIM: sequencing issue after delete (Bug 120195)

Release 5.1.1 

Released July 19, 2024

New Features

• Support for multitenancy.
• Support for third-party authentication, XIP EIP, and SASE on SIM services. You can enable multiple VMS services on a VOS node, and a single VMS cluster can simultaneously host multiple services.
• Support service automatic scaling based on micro-service architecture of VMS, which allows scaling of containers. 
• Support filtering of information using tags to send data to specific branches.
• Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance. 
• Process streamed data from external sources and convert it to a format for VOS devices. Then, stream to the VOS devices that subscribe to a service.
• Forward logs and exceptions to Versa Analytics nodes. VMS can also send data or logs to external components.
• Self-monitoring and healing capabilities after deployment. In multinode deployments, VMS handles node failure by moving service and infrastructure containers to a healthy node. In single node environments, VMS detects spike-based errors and heals by relaunching containers.